The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1887-11-18
YofFOffiCe.

''Thcre is one place in postotiice ser
vice where stealing can b" carried on
with little fear of dctcctipn," said one
Of the division superintendent in the
New York office TO sun reporter re-
r,atly, land that is in the registered
letter department. The opinion Of a.
most every one is that the safest way
to send letter or package is to reg
through which the mail can slip with
great case. The weak part of the
system is in the receiving department.
Say that registered package IS re-
ceivcd at the postotfice from some
place out of the city, 1t passes to the
clerks in the regular way for distribu-
ton. If one of them is dishonest he
collars the package and, Of course, does
not send the notice to the person to
whom it was directed Not receiving
any notice the owner does not call at
the office for the package, and the per
son sending it, having perfect confidence
IN the delivery system. believes it to
have been safely delivered No COM
plants are made to the office and there
no trouble, All the thief has to do
= TO satisfy the department which has a
check upon him, and this is done by
forging the name of the owner of the
package to Il receipt and sending it to
the proper authorities"
is ii easy for a clerk TO pick out a
letter containing money!
Yes. They will do it as certainly as
cat will scent fish head in an ash bar
rel. It's all done by the sense of touch
\ clerk must not be seen weighing up
letters, but must 90 through pile with
all possible speed As his fingers glide
quickly over the letters. if he has been
long at the business. he will know intu-
itively Il letter which contains anything
that makes an uneven fold within, as is
usually the case with money, 1t may
not be money, but If it feels like it that
is enough, and the letter is dcxtrously
dropped on the floor or slipped into a
convenient place, where it can he picked
up without exciting suspicion"
How are the thieves usually de
tcctedT'
by means of dccoy letters. These
letters are fixed up in the inspectors
office, Marked money is put into them.
A bag that comes to the office is opened
and the decoys are put in before the bag
is sent to the distributing department.
The bag comes to the suspected clerk in
the regular way. Search is made for
the decoy in the place where it should
be if it had been properly distributed.
If not found the clerk is searched, and
if the night person was suspected the
money will be found on him. 1t is hard
to work a decoy on an expert thief.
know of one man who passed tllrty-hvc
decoys before he was caught In fact
he let them slip by SO regularly that he
disarmed suspicion and the dccoys were
tried on every other clerk, Complaints
were coming in all the time and the case
was puZzEn9.
None of the clerks would touch a
decoy. Finally the first man suspected
took one, and was arrested. He con-
fessed, and said that he could tell de
coy every time, because it did not have
the marks of travel on it, and the stamp
ing was smooth and sharp, showing that
stamp rarely used had been applied to
the letter, and not the one regularly
used in the course of business,
There is more or less stealing all the
time in the Postotfice. but such a close
watch is kept on the men that the
amount stolen is now comparatively
small. Thieves crop out in the most I'M
expected places, and men in good posi-
tion8 are sometimes caught sacrificing
their good name, home, and future for
pettV SIMS Of money =